Lazaro Montes wasted no time. In his first major league game for the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 1, the 21-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder collected his first career hit, drove in his first career run and hit his first MLB home run — all in the same night.
The Mariners called Montes up with rosters expanding on Sept. 1. Montes became one of just 14 players aged 21 or younger to appear in a major league game this season.
The call-up followed a minor-league season of historic productivity for a Mariners prospect. Montes slashed.249/.369/.558 across Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Tacoma, finishing with 38 home runs, 96 RBIs and a.928 OPS. His.309 ISO would have led all of MLB if he had qualified. His 38 home runs would have tied for second in the major leagues.
Montes posted a 143 wRC+ — a park- and era-adjusted measure of offensive production, where 100 is league average — in 79 games at Double-A before a promotion to Triple-A. There he put up a 129 wRC+ in 44 games. His strikeout rate climbed after the promotion and his walk rate dipped, but his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging all improved after the move up.
In June, Montes went 4-for-4 with two home runs and six RBIs in a 12-7 Arkansas win over San Antonio. Both home runs went to the opposite field. He finished June with 11 home runs and entered his MLB debut tied for fourth in the minor leagues with 23 home runs through June — before finishing the season with 38.
MLB Pipeline rated Montes the Mariners' No. 4 prospect and No. 27 overall entering the season. Just Baseball had him at No. 92 on its list. The Mariners signed him as an international free agent out of Cuba in 2022.
Montes is a corner outfielder whose bat profiles for a cleanup spot. A ball he hit this season left the bat at 115.9 mph. Strikeouts are a genuine part of his game; his 30.6 K% would rank 10th in the majors. But at 38 home runs in a minor-league season, the margin for error on contact is wide.
The Mariners' farm system entered the season tied for the best in baseball by MLB Pipeline's count, with seven Top 100 prospects. Whether Montes' production carries over against major league pitching remains the open question. Pitchers will attack the holes in his swing more systematically than minor-league arms do. But a 38-homer minor-league season is a fact, and Mariners fans now have a front-row seat to see how fast the translation happens.
